Tag Archives: Love And Other Enchantments

“In the end all of us are twisted to a certain extent. We find the less ones boring and the more ones weird. But we are all the same.” – Ishan Dafaria

So, it’s 7th of February, 2016 and time to meet author A dream and a contributing author in Love And Other Enchantments, Ishan Dafaria.

Well i know this person a little, but as much i know he is very interesting. A smart and intellectual guy with a talent of writing. I have seen this guy taking work, and when he takes the work, he also takes the whole responsibility upon him.

Now it’s time to ask Ishan few questions.

1. Tell us something about yourself.

I am 21 years old, and been living in Dubai for almost 4 years now. I am about to finish my graduation in engineering and will start working soon.

2. What is writing for you?

Like an escape from reality… a distraction… Helps me calm my nerves.

3. Did you always want to be a writer?

Yes. And I still want to be a writer. I am not one yet.

The reason I say this s because a writer is not one that just writes something on a piece of paper or on a word document. A writer is someone who influences lives, who touches someone’ souls, who connects to the reader at a level which a normal person can’t… take up any “writer”, from Jane Austen to Dan Brown, from J K Rowling to Amish Tripathi, when a reader reads their books, they don’t just read a good story, they experience a different level of reality that helps the reader grow, both at an emotional level and knowledge level.

Until someone can’t achieve that, I don’t believe they should be called writers.

4. Who is your biggest influence?

“Life”

There’s no better a teacher than life itself. A great writer is always influenced by the ups and downs in his//her life.

5. So tell us how did “Love and Other Enchantments” happen?

Pretty much like love itself. Unexpected but beautiful in its own way.

I never wanted to write love stories. I always believed logic and rationalism is more important than important than emotion. But in the end, all of us experience love, and love CAN be the most beautiful thing in someone’s life.

6. Would you like to share something about your debut novel “The Dream”?

I believe A Dream is something that everyone should read at least once. I don’t say that because I am overconfident as a storyteller or a novelist, neither do I say that because I believe it’s a great work of fiction. But I say that because it is something the today’s youth can connect to. It’s something that each one of us goes through at a certain point in life, and we are torn apart between our passion and our duties towards our family and/or society.

As I said earlier, a writer is someone who touches lives. I intended to do that with A Dream. We are all after money, and we chase money because even though we believe that money can’t buy happiness, it can buy us the things that will make us happy, and though in part that’s true, money alone can’t give you the satisfaction. You need money, but you also need your passion.

7. What are your views about the Indian politics of today’s time?

I was flying to Delhi recently, and I met an old man on the way, he had a political background but he looked extremely simple. As we got talking, he mentioned, and I quote,

“Politics is not a profession, it’s public service.”

Even I believe more or less the same. It’s a place for extremely intellectual and mature people. Unfortunately, the scenario today is extremely different because of a handful people, who used their intellects for their own service instead of the public… But there’s always a hope for a better tomorrow.

8. What are your other interests besides writing?

Music. I love listening to music almost all the time, whatever I am doing, be it travelling or studying or writing or working or cooking. I sometimes sleep with the music on the whole night.

I love cooking. Unfortunately cooking doesn’t love me. So I generally assist someone instead of taking it up all by myself.

9. Tell us about your upcoming work.

It’s trilogy. Based on conspiracy theories, a pure work of fiction, covering the organized criminal underworld which is planning a world war in 2020s.

So, for the first day of interview session we have Tanima Kedar with us, who is a student of English Literature at Amity University and a co-author in Love And Other Enchantments, by The Fictitious Five. I personally would like to praise her for her dreams and all her hard works. Her works resemble her labor. She has been working as a freelancer with many companies, and right now with literary works, she is writing scripts for Blue Sapphire Films, UK.

“Success is a cocktail made up of a dream that keeps you awake, a passion that keeps you on the move and an attitude that doesn’t let you rest.”

– Tanima Kedar

I believe that no matter how good you become in playing with words, but at a point you will surely get defeated by the same words. Words have their own voice, and if we understand them wisely then they can become our best friends too… In the same manner Tanima’s quote tells us how much passionate she is in her dreams. Well, I am sorry to say I always envy your spirit in your work.

Let’s start the interview with Tanima Kedar-

1. Tell us something about yourself.

Well, I am a student of English Hons. and even though I hate getting up every morning to go to class, I am grateful that I get to crib about how many books I have to read for a semester and not about how much I need to cram for a semester. In short, thank God I am a literature student. I also believe that media and literature, together can impact the society positively but am a little saddened by what the commercial media has to offer nowadays.

2. What writing means to you?

Writing for me, is a means to reach out to people, to relate to their feelings and in turn broaden my spectrum.

3. Did you always want to be a writer?

Yes, it had always been my passion to write. I have wanted to be a writer for as long as I remember.

4. Who is your biggest influence?

My biggest influences have been my mother and my grandmother. The two ladies are tremendous writers and were the ones to introduce me to the magical world of stories. I still aspire to write something even remotely as good as my mother or my grandmother.

5. So tell us how did “Love and Other Enchantments” happen?

Well that’s hard to tell because it all happened so fast. One day, a few of us were talking, fast forward a couple of months, we were holding the book in our hands. Quick and easy.

6. Since you are a literature student what is your favorite genre and why?

I hate the fact that literary works are divided into genres. I personally believe that no work of literature can be categorized into just one genre and therefore I cannot say that I have a favorite genre. However, I do personally admire works that color their fictional flights with reality. I personally love Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.

7. Some other interests besides writing?

I believe that good conversations great for enriching oneself. Therefore I gravitate towards good conversations and that is one of my main interests besides writing.

8. Tell us about your upcoming work.

I do have a couple of works in the making. I am currently in the process of penning down a novel and a compilation of short stories.

Love and other enchantment as its name suggests will give you 15 hues of love from the hands of 5 brilliant writers. I don’t think it is giving you tales but incidents and scenes of life which will prompt reader to weave the story of love in its essential shade! The ride with the book was a wave with its ups and down, stumbles and surprises. Each story will take you to a land of love of its kind! It’s a mixed collection which will please all types of readers.

Tanima Kedar : I consider this writer’s work to be the best way to start the book; her quote on love ‘As complex as the universe as deep as the sea, love is like a maze, getting lost, is the key’ gives the best impression and elegant kickoff to her section

An aim is the single life you live lifelong. Some live it to the last breath of their life. It feels amazing to smell an aim inside you.- Anuj Kumar

In the newly started Debut Author Corner we have with us the young poet Anuj Kumar, bachelors in English Literature, from Delhi College of Arts And Commerce, University of Delhi, who debuted with his recent book “Love And Other Enchantments” an anthology by The Fictitious Five.

Tell us something about yourself.

Penning down my own thoughts to satisfy myself when turned into my passion I don’t know, but I am glad I chose it. I started my career with writing poems in my personal diary. I was amazed when editors “Our Quest” consistently chose to publish my poems, “They Too” and “Sun Inside My Heart” in their two issues.

In one of my previous posts, I had mentioned about a short story anthology, titledLove and other enchantmentswhich has been sailing, albeit along crests and troughs, for a few months now. Two days back we received the design of our book’s front cover.The publishers had asked us if we had any particular suggestion regarding the diagrammatic representation of our collection, and we had conveyed the theme that was brewing in our minds. The theme was solely love and its essence, although a bit skewed towards the poignant nature of it, more than the picture of mushiness that most people tend to associate love stories with. And this is owing to the fact that each story in the anthology is soulful, portraying the sheer intensity of the varied shades of love, rather than focussing merely on the exhilarating nature of it.